Trick or Treat
by Earth Star
Summary: When Allura learns about Halloween from the paladins, she attempts to surprise them with a party with very odd results.


Pidge blinked as she stared at the calendar on her computer. She wasn't surprise she had forgotten the day, was rather to easy to do that in space, but still Pidge would have assumed she would tune in sooner for something like this.

"Huh," Pidge said as she adjusted her glasses and looked to the others. "Halloween is four days away."

The paladins went quiet throughout the room. Keith glanced up from his seat with a thoughtful look. Lance and Hunk paused in their thumb war to exchange a curious expression. Shiro glanced up from the table looking surprise, but merely giving a shrug as both Allura and Coran blinked in confusion.

"Hallo..what?" Allura asked as she put down the report she'd been reviewing.

"It's an Earth holiday," Hunk explained as he rubbed his neck. "Actually one of my favourites. Man, I forgot all about it."

"Yeah, and weren't we planning on a movie horror marathon this year?" Lance asked.

"No, you were," Hunk replied, firmly. "You know I can't stand horror movies. I still get nightmares from that creepy one with vampire marrying the werewolf."

Lance raised an eyebrow. "Hunk, that was a comedy."

"How is a movie that ends with them blowing up a horde of zombies a comedy?!"

"I hate to interrupt, but I still don't quite understand," Allura said, although now looking more intrigued.

"It's kind of a spooky holiday," Keith explained with a shrug. "Kids dress in costumes and knock door to door to eat candy, but most people use it as an excuse to party."

"Well, there's a bit more to it than that," Shir added. "There's this old belief that spirits cross over on Halloween night and to scare off the bad ones you dress up in scary costumes."

"Hmm...curious," Coran replied thoughtfully. "I've heard other planets having customs to scare away evil spirits, but I didn't realize Earth did as well. Is it possibly similar to the slime flinging ceremony on Omia Prime?"

"Um..no, not exactly" Pidge said. "Honestly, most people just dressed up for fun, whether if they believe in that stuff or not." S

he brought up photo on her computer from when she and Matt and dressed up for Halloween a few years ago. "See the orange thing in the corner? It's a jack-o-lantern, which is basically just a carved out pumpkin with a lit candle, and it was suppose to scare away ghosts too."

Allura glanced over her shoulder and frowned. "And what exactly are you dressed up as?"

"Well, Matt was the Scarecrow and I was the Tinman," she replied. "You would get it if you were from Earth."

Allura kept her frown as examined the photo. "What are those decorations? They look like an animal."

"They're meant to look like bats," Lance said as he moved in closer. "They're basically mice with wings." He gave a small sigh. "Man, all this stuff makes me homesick...well, more than normal."

"Yeah, me too," Hunk said as he patted his stomach. "Love to have me some candy corn."

"You actually eat candy corn?" Keith asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You didn't?" Hunk asked as he folded his arms..

Keith shook his head. "Never appealed to me. I never cared for candy."

Shiro chuckled. "No, but you did always had a sweet tooth for the leftover chocolate bars the next day."

Keith blushed slightly and turned away as he tucked his hands into his pocket. "I..uh..don't know what you're talking about."

Shiro laughed as he sat on the chair as glanced to the others. "When we were younger, Keith thought he was being sneaky when he took the chocolate bars out of my bag to stash in his room."

"Shiro..," Keith grumbled as he turned his face away from the group.

"So, dressing up, eating sweets and carving out food is what you did for Hallowhen? Coran asked as he grasped his chin.

"It's Halloween," Hunk corrected gently, "but yeah basically, although we did also have parties with games like bobbing for apples."

Pidge stuck out her tongue. "I always hated that game. It would always get my costume soaked."

"Still, it sounds like a fun holiday," Allura commented with a smile.

"Yeah, it's a blast," Lance said with a sly grin. "Come to Earth and I'll be glad to give you a tour."

Keith smirked. "Great idea because your face makes the perfect scary mask."

Lance scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Hey, at least I'm not a chocolate thief-"

"Okay, okay, that's enough," Shiro declared as his clapped his hands. "Halloween or not, it's time for some training drills. I want you guys suit up and meet me in the training deck."

The other paladins muttered and nodded in agreement as they sauntered out of the room.

"You joining us, Princess?" Shiro asked. "You had some new training ideas you wanted to use, right?"

Allura didn't respond and seemed to stare off into space.

"Princess?" Shiro asked again.

Allura jumped. "What? Oh, sorry…I'll be right there." She gave a hasty smile. "Coran and I just need to run a scan on the lions to make certain they're working properly after that last battle we were in."

Coran raised an eyebrow at the comment, but said nothing.

Shiro looked equally baffled, but gave a shrug. "Alright, we'll see you in a bit then."

Allura smiled and wave until all the paladins were out of earshot. She sighed and looked to Coran who was tapping his fingers against his elbow.

"Run a scan you say?" he said cooly with a smirk. "Could have sworn we did that two days ago." He pointed a finger at her. "I know that look, Princess. What are you plotting?"

She chewed her bottom lip. "Well...they've all been working hard lately."

"Yes, they have," Coran replied.

"And I know how much we miss the old celebrations back on Altea," Allura commented with her hands behind her back with a thoughtful frown. "So, perhaps we could find a way for the paladins to celebrate this Halloween."

Coran gave a smile and twirled his mustache as if he been expecting this to occur. "I think that would be a kind gesture, Princess."

Allura beamed and clapped her hands. "And we can do better if we can surprise them with it."

Coran's smile faltered a bit. "Um..that would be a bit more tricky since we don't know everything about Hallowheen."

"We know the basics and it sounded simple enough," Allura said as she continued the grin. "We could even get the space mice to help out. I'm certain we could do it by ourselves."

"Still, I think it would be more fruitful if got the paladins help on how exactly they celebrate this holiday of theirs," Coran warned.

"But then it wouldn't be a surprise, and it seems pointless if they have to work even more for something that is suppose to be a gift to them," Allura argued and waved a hand. "I'm certain we can do it with just us and the mice."

Coran sighed. "Alright, when you get the look I know first hand you're impossible to stop." He placed hand on her shoulder. "I'll go make a list of what we need and then we'll make a plan from there."

Allura grinned. "Thank you, Coran and I'm certain the paladins will never forget this."

Coran sighed. "If anything, I have no doubt about that, Princess.

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A few days later, Pidge poked her head out of her door before shutting it tight and turned to her fellow Paladins. "Okay, we all here?"

Shiro did a quick head count and nodded. "Yeah, looks like it, but I still don't get why you wanted this meeting away from Allura and Coran."

"Because I'm certain Allura is up to something," Pidge said in a firm tone.

Lance raised an eyebrow from his seat on the bed. "Huh? What do you mean?"

Pidge sighed as she sat on her bed next to Lance and adjusted her glasses. "Ever since our talk about Halloween, she keeps asking me questions about it like what colours are connected to it, and what other kind of traditions do we do with it."

Shiro smiled and shrugged. "So? It's a good thing she's curious about it, right?"

Ketih shook his head. "No, I get what Pidge is saying. She was asking me about Halloween too, and she had this edger look in her eye that can only spell trouble."

Hunk raised an eyebrow. "Edger as in?"

"Remember when we were first training, and she told us to let fear guide us into forming Voltron while shooting all those lasers?...That look." Keith replied.

Hunk had a shiver and wrapped his arms around himself. "Oh, yeah, that's bad."

Lance scoffed. "I'm with Shiro, I don't get what the big deal is."

"The big deal," Pidge continued, "is that I just got a feeling Allura is planning something and I'm not certain we're going to like the results."

Lance rolled his eyes. "And what is she going to do, throw us a Halloween party?"

The words died on his lips as the meaning of them struck them all.

"Oh God, that's it isn't?" Keith replied with a stunned expression. "We were talking about missing home, and it's coming up, it fits."

"Would Allura even know how to throw one?" Pidge asked in disbelief.

"No, she won't, that's the problem," Keith replied.

"I would be more concerned on what kind of food she would have," Hunk said nervously. "I mean, the regular everyday food is not exactly great, so what kind of stuff would Coran make with 'being spooky' as the theme?"

"Guys, guys, calm down," Shiro said as he tried to regain control. "Even if Allura is planning that, and we don't know for certain, I'm sure it would be fine."

"Um...not to add to the tension here," Lance said with a hand raised, "but you guys realize that Halloween is today, right?"

Silence filled the room as the paladins glanced to each other.

"Dang it, I forgot," Pidge said as horror grew on her face.

"Sssooo, anyone up for getting into our lions and just flying aimlessly in space for the rest of the day?" Hunk said.

Shiro sighed. "Hunk, there's no need-"

"Paladins!" Allura's voice spoke over the intercom in an almost too cheery tone. "Would you please meet me and Coran in the recreation room. We have a surprise for you!"

Keith, PIdge and Hunk exchanged uneasy glances as Lance tugged at his shirt collar.

"Um...I thought Coran said they were making repairs in that room this morning," Lance said.

"They did, but clearly it was a cover to set up the 'surprise'," Pidge replied.

"I vote we go with Hunk's plan, like right now," Keith insisted as he looked ready to make a run for it.

"We're not going anywhere," Shiro said sternly and made certain to block the door.. "If Allura did plan this, then she did it with good intentions and it would be very rude to leave"

He placed his hands on his hips and looked at each person directly. "So, no matter what this 'surprise' is, we are going to be very thankful for it, right?"

Hunk sighed and rubbed his neck. "Yeah, okay, fine." He rose and tucked his hands into his pocket. "But I got a bad feeling about this."

Lance scoffed. "Relax, Big Guy. I'm sure it's fine."

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Lance didn't feel quite as certain as they entered the recreation room. Orange and black rocks had been hung from the ceiling. Dishes of moving tentacles and green goo had been placed on the table, along with a small bowl of small pink speckled crystals. A large bin of water sat in the far corner along with a blue tall squash like vegetable that had a smiley face painted on it next to it.

Allura stood in the centre of it all grinning proudly with the space mice standing in front of her as they posed, and showed off the fake wings they were currently wearing on their backs.

"Happy Hallowhen!" Allura cheered.

Coran, who was standing behind her gave a very apologetic smile at the group.

"It's Halloween," Pidge gently corrected and gave a forced smile. "So..what is all of this exactly?"

"Well, I thought I would surprise you all with a Hallowhen-"

"Halloween," chirped Keith.

"Sorry, Halloween," Allura corrected as she pointed to the hanging rocks. "I know that black and orange are the colours mostly used, so we hung these grantain rocks as decoration."

Lance looked closer curious. "Huh, well, they are kind of pretty," he said as he reached to touch one.

"Uh, I wouldn't do that," Coran warned. "They're quite sensitive-"

It was too late, once Lance's finger touched the rock, sparks flew and exploded in a puff of smoke. Lance staggered back, coughing and gagging as he tried to wipe off the soot from his face.

"What just happened?!" he cried as Pidge examined the broken pieces on the floor.

"Grantain rocks are harmless, but they have a tendency to explode if you're not careful," Coran explained. "Children often played with them for pranks and festivals."

"Huh," Pidge said thoughtfully as she picked one up. "Hey, Lance, make another one explode. There might be a weapon use for this."

"I'll pass, thanks," Lance growled as he wiped off the rest of the soot.

It was then the space mice scampered closer at Lance's feet and spun around to display the fake black wings.

Lance looked closer and blinked baffled as the mice posed for him. "Why do the space mice have wings on them?"

Keith grasped his chin in thought as he kneeled and shrugged. "Because they're bats."

"Huh?" Lance asked.

"You told Allura and Coran that bats are mice with wings," Keith stated as he picked up one of the mice to show the others. "So, logically that's what they did."

"But..bats don't look like that," Lance said as he pointed.

"We know that, but they don't," Keith commented as he shrugged. "Worse case, you can just argue it's their Halloween costume."

"He's got you there," Pidge said with a smirk as she patted the mice. "With that said, with the right parts, I could probably make a jetpack that would let them fly-"

"And I'll stop you right here," Lance replied, briskly. "Last thing we need are the space mice crashing into walls and us."

Allura didn't seem to be listening as she happily tugged Shiro and Hunk to the container of water.

"I created that bobbing for apples game you told me about. Thought we could play it later."

Shiro raised an eyebrow as he glanced inside the barrel. "Um..what are those black spheres at the bottom?"

"Those are hazelroots," Coran explained. "We didn't have any of those 'apples' on hand, but we thought these were close enough for you to grab."

Pidge peered inside and shared the wince with Shiro. "That would normally be a great idea, but they've sunk to the bottom."

"Yes, hazelroots are very dense," Allura explained and frowned. "Is that a problem?"

Shiro rubbed the back of his neck. "Um..well, it's just that for bobbing for apples you kind of need the apples to be floating to play it."

Allura blinked and had a moment of clarity on her face. "Ooh, yes, I see, that would make it easier." She clapped her hands. "I'm certain we can find a way around this. Oh! Wait, I know what to show you next! Just a moment!"

She ran off to the table, which gave Hunk a moment to get closer to Shiro and Pidge.

"Uh….guys," Hunk whispered. "This is a bit weird."

Shiro shushed him. "I know, but her heart was in the right place," he whispered back.

The comment didn't soothe Hunk's anxiousness as Allura brought over the bowl full of sparkling crystals.

"On Altea this was a sweet treat children would often have," she said as he picked up one of the pieces of candy. "I thought you could consider it your equivalent to candy corn."

"Ah, okay," Hunk said as he took the piece and the other Paladins drew closer. "I'm willing to try most things once."

He popped the candy into his mouth and quietly chewed. Yet, with each crunch his lips puckered slightly and his eyes widened.

"How do you like it?" Allura asked, her eyes big like a puppy's that Hunk didn't have the heart to break them.

"Um..yeah, it's good," Hunk said with a shaky smile and raise a thumbs up. "Real good."

Allura smiled pleased as she handed the rest of the bowl to Hunk. "Be right back," Allura said before racing out of the room. "I have some masks I thought we could use for costumes."

Hunk kept his mouth shut until the second Allura was gone and spat out the candy into his hand.

"How bad was it?" Keith asked as he poked at the candy with a finger.

Hunk coughed. "Let me put it this way," he said as he quietly dumped the candy into his pocket. "It was so sweet I was certain I could feel my teeth rotting as I chewed it."

He scooped up another piece of candy from the bowl and examined it. "Although, if we just broke them off in smaller pieces could be a substitute for sugar."

Coran sighed as he approached them keeping his hands folded behind his back. "I take it this isn't exactly how you lot spend your Hallowheen?," he said.

"It's Halloween," Pidge whispered, "and..no not exactly."

"I'm sorry," Coran whispered. "I tried to convince the princess she should discuss the party idea with you, but she really wanted to surprise you as a thank you for all the hard work you've done lately."

The group looked to each and each gave a small smile as they all reached the same conclusion.

"It's okay," Shiro said as he patted Coran's shoulder. "It was nice of her to do it."

"Yeah," Lance added. "Besides, I can honestly say this is still more fun than some other parties I've been too."

"I would have to agree with Lance," Keith replied with a shrug. "Not that I've been to many. Although, I think this is the first time I actually know everyone attending it."

Pidge nodded in agreement. "It's a bit weird, but hey we're all together and that's the important part, right?"

"Right," Hunk said and frowned as he looked into the bowl. "Although, I may ask if I can make us better party snacks."

It was then Allura reappeared with masks in her hand that seemed to be made out of paper and resembled creatures none of the paladins recognized.

"These are a bit worn," Allura said as she held them out, "but with these and some robes I found they should-"

"Listen, Allura," Shiro said as he stepped forward. "We honestly want to thank you for doing this for us." He took one of the offered masks and patted her shoulder. "However, I don't think we need to go that far and dress up in costume."

Allura blinked as she looked uncertain. "Are you sure?"

"Very," Hunk replied. "Honestly, best part of Halloween is just to hang out with your buds. So, us being together should be enough."

"Oh," Allura said thoughtfully, but then shut her eyes and nodded. "Yes, I can understand that." She gave a small pout. "But then what should we do if you don't wish to dress up?"

"How about we tell some ghost stories?" Pidge said as she took her arm and lead her to the couch. "That's something Matt and I use to do on Halloween, and I bet we could get some good ones going."

"Yeah, I'm certain I know enough stories to scare Keith," Lance said with a grin.

Keith smirked. "You want to bet on that? Because I'm betting I could scare you before you do me."

"Alright, alright, that's enough," Shiro said as he took a seat in between them. "No need to go overboard." He gave a small laugh as the space mice climbed up onto the couch to join them. "But telling some ghost stories isn't a bad idea. Why don't we dim the lights to add to the atmosphere?"

"Splendid idea!" Coran replied, "and I believe I have a story from my cadet days that will knock that teeth right out of your mouths."

"The candy already did that," Hunk muttered quietly and then shrugged as he broke off a tiny piece to pop into his mouth.

"Why do you keep eating it then?," Lance muttered.

Hunk shrugged. "What can I say? The taste is slowly growing on me."

Shiro shook his head as they all sat to listen to Coran's story feeling quite content and happy.

It might not be exactly how they celebrate Halloween, but he knew it was one they wouldn't forget for a long time.


End file.
